


Perfectly Imperfect

by QuoteIntangible



Category: Pierce the Veil, Sleeping With Sirens
Genre: But he's in labor, Fluff, Kellin is cranky, M/M, Mpreg, So he gets a pass, Super cheesy ending, Swearing, Tiny bit of Angst, Warped Tour 2012
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 14:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12278226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuoteIntangible/pseuds/QuoteIntangible
Summary: During his last performance at Warped Tour before paternity leave, and three weeks before his due date, Kellin goes into labor. But because his contractions are so far apart, Kellin decides he has plenty of time to finish his performance and go join his fiancé, Vic, at PTV’s set to perform King for a Day before calling his OBGYN and heading to the hospital for his C-section. In retrospect, it may not have been the brightest idea.





	Perfectly Imperfect

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot believe I wrote an mpreg. It's generally not my thing, but while on Pinterest I happened to stumble across a picture of Kellin performing King for a Day at Warped Tour with a beach ball under his shirt. This idea sprang from that. Still, I wasn't going to write it out and publish it, but before I knew it I had half the story written in my head already, so I decided at that point to just write it down and finish it. Also, I didn’t give Kellin and Vic’s kid a name because I was too lazy to pick one out. Me being lazy af is also the reason the ending is super cheesy. If any of you have any ideas for a name, I am open to suggestions and willing to go back and add the name to the story. 
> 
> Also, I based Kellin's personality on one of my best friends. She is absolutely just the biggest sweetheart ever, far too nice to people in my opinion. But when she was pregnant, she was just the sassiest, no-nonsense, I-will-take-your-bullshit-and-slap-you-in-the-face-with-it kind of person, and it was the greatest thing ever to watch. I loved every second of it. I thought that would be a perfect characterization for Kellin.

Kellin rubbed his swollen belly and shifted his weight uncomfortably on his aching feet, glaring a hole into the side of Jack’s face as the asshole took a large bite out of his candy bar instead of tuning his guitar like he was supposed to.

This was sound check. Well, it was _supposed to be_ sound check, but as usual it had started out as his band just fucking around, doing absolutely nothing of use. This, _this right here_ , was why he hated sound check so much. He hated it even more when he was eight months pregnant and everything hurt. And by everything, Kellin meant _everything._ From his back to his feet to his knees to his head to his stomach, there was not an inch of his body that did not hurt at the moment. For some reason, today the pain decided to be even worse than usual, sending his already plummeting mood closer to the pits of Hell. He knew he’d regret doing Warped Tour in the blistering summer heat during his third trimester. But it had been too big of an opportunity for his band to pass up and he just could not say no.

Everything about it sucked, except the fans and performing, and as he approached his due date he had just enough energy to do his performance each day and not much else. His band, while helpful most of the time and generally willing to put in a little extra effort to take the strain off of him, (which he appreciated immensely) were seriously getting on his nerves right now.

“Jack, seriously?” he said into the microphone. His eyes narrowed when Jack turned to him with an innocent look like he hadn’t noticed Kellin glaring at him for the last few minutes.

“Oh, sorry, did you want some?” Jack said with a faux innocent smirk as he practically shoved the candy bar in Kellin’s face.

“Get that disgusting chocolate the fuck out of my face right now,” Kellin said, shoving Jack’s hand away.

“No swearing in front of the baby,” Justin joked for probably the thousandth time since Kellin broke the news to his band that he was pregnant. If Justin wasn’t on the other side of the stage, and if Kellin didn’t have to waddle to get him, he would have punched him, hard, and in the face.  

“Aren’t pregnant people supposed to be hungry all the time?” Jack asked. Thankfully, he retreated to his side of the stage, taking the candy bar and its awful smell with him. It was starting to make Kellin nauseous.

“Not when the baby shoves all your organs out of the way to make room for itself,” Kellin said, through gritted teeth. “Are we ready to start?”

“Someone’s cranky today,” Jack muttered.

“Do you want to find out just how cranky I am?” Kellin threatened.

Whatever Jack was going to say in response was cut off by Jesse playing the intro to Trophy Father’s Trophy Son. He gave Jesse a grateful smile as sound check finally commenced.

-

As soon as they didn’t need him anymore, Kellin stalked off stage, feeling sick to his stomach and strangely light headed, as he left his band to finish up. Just as he reached side stage, a sharp pain tore through his stomach. He staggered, and clutched onto the first solid thing within his grasp to steady himself as he nearly doubled over with the pain.

That ‘solid thing’ just so happened to be the rather large bicep of one Austin Carlile.

“Woah, are you okay?” Austin asked, wrapping a steadying hand around Kellin’s arm.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay,” Kellin said, as the pain slowly receded.

“Are you sure?” Austin asked, looking at Kellin like he did not trust his opinion at all on the matter.

“Yeah, it’s just Braxton Hicks contractions,” Kellin assured, though he wasn’t so sure himself. He had been plagued all week by Braxton Hicks, but that one had felt a little different than usual. It was too early for him to go into labor, though, so he thought nothing of it.

“Here, sit for a minute,” Austin insisted, guiding him gently towards an amp that Alan had wheeled over. 

“I don’t want to damage your amp accidentally,” Kellin said, though his body desperately begged him to sit.

“It’s Blood on the Dance Floor’s amp,” Alan assured.

“Well, in that case,” Kellin said, and gratefully sat down, a groan of contentment escaping from his lips as the pressure was relieved from his knees.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Austin asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, thank you,” Kellin said, squashing his annoyance. It was not Austin’s fault he felt like shit, it was his fiancé’s fault for getting him pregnant. And when Kellin saw Vic later in the day, he was going to tell him in painstaking detail all the ways he hurt, and what Vic was going to do to make it better. He placed a supporting hand underneath his giant belly, and hunched forward as another wave of nausea attacked him. 

“Is he okay?” Jesse asked Austin, as the guitarist walked off stage with the rest of his band. He handed off his guitar to their tech before coming to a rest next to Kellin.

“I don’t know,” Austin answered.

Kellin felt his headache intensify as the two talked around him like he was some sort of child. “I’m right here, you know,” Kellin snapped, and immediately felt bad about it. Austin was one of the nicest dudes on the planet, and did not deserve to be on the brunt end of Kellin’s bad temper today. No, that spot was solely reserved for Vic right now. “Sorry,” he said, and swallowed hard as the nausea intensified and threatened to expel what little he had eaten today.

“It’s okay, dude. You’re creating life. You’re allowed to be a little bit testy,” Austin said, patting him on the back before taking the stage for his sound check.

Kellin held in his exasperated sigh until Austin was out of earshot. He knew he was about ready to pop, and that he was probably the only person in the entire short history of Warped Tour crazy enough to attempt touring while so heavily pregnant. But he hated, absolutely hated, that everyone was treating him so differently and walking on eggshells around him.

“You’re being extra bitchy today,” Jesse said, narrowing his eyes at him.

“No swearing in front of the baby,” Justin popped up and said before disappearing just as quickly. They both ignored him.

“Why?” Jesse asked.

“You try carrying around a baby for eight months, and then ask me that question again,” Kellin said. He struggled to rise to his feet, before realizing he could not get up on his own. He very much wished he could stomp away from this conversation, but even if he could get up without help, the most he could do was waddle semi-quickly.

“Seriously, what’s going on?” Jesse asked, kneeling down next to him so they were eye level.

Knowing escape was impossible, Kellin sighed in defeat. “I’m exhausted, everything fucking hurts, and I feel like I’m going to barf, and as much as I love touring, I can’t wait to get home today,” he admitted.

“We didn’t have to do this Warped Tour,” Jesse lectured for probably the hundredth time since Kellin declared his desire to participate in this tour so close to his due date.

“Yes we did,” Kellin softly said. They were going to miss the last two weeks of Warped Tour as it was, which he still felt kind of bad about. But with his doctor’s somewhat hesitant approval, Kellin decided he could at least make it until the San Diego date before calling it quits and heading to his and Vic’s house to rest for the last few weeks of his pregnancy. Vic was going to finish Warped Tour with his band before coming back to San Diego just in time for Kellin’s scheduled C-section. Jesse had had reservations from the start about Kellin touring. Hell, Kellin had had his own reservations about it. But this was the biggest opportunity their band had gotten so far, and he wouldn’t be the reason they missed it. “I’m not going to be the reason we don’t make it,” Kellin said. He bit down hard on his lip, and forced the tears back. _Stupid hormones making me cry for no reason,_ he thought

“Hey,” Jesse said, wrapping a hand around his forearm and forcing Kellin to look at him. “This baby is a blessing,” he softly said, instantly zeroing in on the problem.

“I know,” Kellin whispered just as softly. He did know that. He did want this baby and so did Vic.

But he also wanted to keep touring and keep making music, and he did not know how a baby would fit into that. He worried about it constantly, all the time, every day, and Vic telling him not to worry about it, and that everything would work out just fine, was not helpful in the least. He was in a constant state of stress. He needed to calm down, the doctor had said at his last two appointments, which was also not helpful in the least and just increased his stress even more.

“It’ll all work out, you’ll see,” Jesse said, and it was even less helpful than when Vic told him that.

But he was too tired to argue with Jesse, and didn’t really want to talk about this with him anymore. So, he nodded and said, “You’re right. Now help me up, I have to go pee.”

*

An hour later, and five minutes before Sleeping With Sirens were due to play their last Warped Tour show before he started his paternity leave, Kellin felt a cramping pain – almost like he had to take the biggest shit of his life and had held it in for far too long before his bowels decided they need to evacuate –  assault his stomach. Though sharp and intense, just like before, the pain lasted mere moments before easing again. Somehow, Kellin just knew this time that it was not another Braxton Hicks contraction.

Kellin had _most certainly_ gone into labor.

He told no one.

Not yet, at least. Labor was a long, and well, _laborious_ process. His last contraction was an hour ago. His contractions, he knew, would gradually get closer and closer together, but Kellin figured he had plenty of time before that happened. He doubted he would even have another contraction before Sleeping With Sirens finished their set. He bet he might even be able to make it to his fiancé’s set, which was immediately after theirs but at a different stage, to perform King for a Day before experiencing another contraction. After that, he would tell Vic, and they would have plenty of time to call his OBGYN and get to the hospital to have his C-section.

Kellin should have known better than to make bets, because his poker face was terrible.

He came _so close_ to making it through their set without another contraction. They were halfway through their last song when he felt the same pain he felt earlier, only stronger, tear through his abdomen, causing the line he had meant to scream into the microphone to come out as a strangled yelp instead. Jesse shot him a strange look from the corner of his eye _,_ before finishing the line for him, covering for his singer who was currently unable to do anything but writhe in pain. He recovered enough to finish the song, but it took every ounce of willpower that he had to do so.

“Maybe you should go back to the bus and rest, you’re looking kind of pale,” Jesse suggested as he helped Kellin off stage after their set.

“And shaky,” Gabe unhelpfully added, who was on Kellin’s other side assisting him off stage.

Kellin shook his head no. “I have to get to Vic’s set.”

“I don’t think you’re in any shape to perform again,” Jesse said. “You need to rest.”

“I’m fine,” Kellin insisted, though he was becoming less and less sure of that himself. He needed to get to Vic’s set anyways, though, to tell his fiancé he was about to deliver their baby. He figured he might as well perform while he was there. It was only a four minute song, and he only sang for like half of it. He could totally make it.

Kellin planned to call his OBGYN before he went on stage, and then as soon as they finished up they could either drive themselves in one of their vans to the hospital or call an ambulance, depending on whether or not Kellin wanted to walk all the way back to the buses.

“If it makes you feel better, you can walk me there,” Kellin said, refusing to admit that maybe he needed Jesse’s assistance to the stage PTV was performing at because he was not quite sure anymore that he could make it on his own.

Jesse narrowed his eyes at him again, scrutinizing him closely. “All right, preggers, let’s go,” he said, offering his arm for Kellin to take.

“We have to stop at the –”

“The bathrooms, I know,” Jesse said with a fond shake of his head.

Kellin offered an appreciative smile, and looped his arm through Jesse’s.

For all his complaining, Jesse was a good friend.

-

Jesse dropped him off side stage of PTV’s set with only a few minutes to spare before he had to go on. It had taken a really long time for Kellin to walk the short distance between the two stages, and Jesse asking him every few steps if he was okay had done nothing but ratchet up his annoyance level.

His annoyance level shot out of the stratosphere when he saw All Time Low hanging out side stage, as well. He loved the guys, but Jack could be a bit too much sometimes, and Kellin just was not in the mood nor did he have the patience to deal with him right now.

“Hey,” Alex greeted him, frowning as his eyes scanned over him. He opened his mouth to say more, but Kellin quickly cut him off as he rested his weight on one of the stage’s support beams as the muscles in his back spasmed uncontrollably.

“If you ask me if I’m okay, I’m going to scream,” Kellin deadpanned. Alex held his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

“You’ve looked better,” Jack said, apparently not having heard his warning to Alex or deciding to just ignore it. “Have you’ve gone into labor or something?” he joked, laughing at his own stupidity as he laid a hand on Kellin’s shoulder.

Kellin felt another contraction. Not wanting to ruin PTV’s set, he clamped his mouth shut, suppressing the cry of pain that wanted to tear from his throat. Jack’s hand on his shoulder was practically an invitation, so he grabbed the offending digits and squeezed as the pain continued to assault him.

The high-pitched squeal from Jack as Kellin practically crushed his hand was quite satisfying at the moment. “Oh my God, I was just kidding,” Jack yelped, his knees buckling with the pain. “I didn’t know you were really in labor!”

As if by summoned by magic, Jesse popped his head up over the side of the stage. “I fucking knew you were in labor, you liar,” he shouted with a shit eating grin.

“Good for you,” Kellin said through gritted teeth as the pain like nothing he’d ever felt before continued to stampede through his abdomen. “Stop gloating and fucking do something.”

The smirk slid off Jesse’s face faster than an avalanche down a mountainside to be replaced with pure panic.

“I’m not equipped to deliver a baby,” Jack said, his eyes suggestively raking over Kellin’s body. “But –”

“I swear to God if you finish that sentence, Barakat, I _will_ break your fingers.”

Jack’s eyes snapped up to his face, wide and terrified, as Kellin tightened his grip on Jack’s hand, crushing the guitarist’s fingers as the pain would not go away.

“Oh, oh God. What do we do?” Jesse asked, to which Alex and Rian shrugged, having no clue either.

 “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Kellin said. “Does the pregnant person have to do everything?” The pain was slowly starting to recede to something more tolerable, but that wasn’t making it any easier to think.

“I’m calling an ambulance right now,” a heavenly voice of reason, Zack, cut through the chaos. “Rian, get security, tell them to escort the ambulance to the stage. Alex, get something for Kellin to sit on.”

“Get him off me,” Jack whimpered as Kellin continued his death grip even though the contraction had passed. “Please.”

“No,” Zack firmly said. “That’s what you get for antagonizing a pregnant person.”

“I found a chair!” Alex said, pushing over a metal, foldable chair towards him.

“I don’t need a chair,” Kellin insisted. “I’m going on stage.”

“What? Are you insane? You can’t go perform. You’re about to give birth,” Jesse protested.

“My contractions are still far apart. I have time,” Kellin insisted, taking the microphone from a very confused looking PTV tech as Vic called him out to stage. Jack sighed in relief as Kellin finally released his hand. “Plus, the ambulance isn’t even here yet. Oh, I almost forgot. Call my OBGYN for me please,” he said, and tossed his phone to Jesse.

Kellin shook his head as he stepped out on stage, unsure how the one about to give birth was the calmest person right now, except for maybe Zack. He waved to the screaming crowd, and PTV launched into King for a Day.

Nothing would go wrong. Kellin totally had this.

-

Except maybe he didn’t.

Four minutes and seven seconds later, Kellin realized he did not, in fact, ‘have this’ as a split second after the song ended pain ripped through his abdomen. He pressed a hand against his stomach, breathing heavily as he tried to remember everything he and Vic learned in the one and only birthing class they attended. Vic was the one who wanted to go, but Kellin had argued it was pointless seeing as he was having a C-section. Being pregnant meant Kellin automatically won every single one of their arguments, because there was no good counter-argument to ‘I’m carrying your freaking baby’ that would not make Vic sound like an ass. It was the one and only thing Kellin would miss about being pregnant.

“Vic,” he hissed at his fiancé, but the jerk remained oblivious, continuing to wave at the audience and ignore his very pregnant fiancé who was trying very hard to stay on his feet right now despite the pain.

Kellin did not have time for this shit. He grabbed Vic by the ear and dragged him from the stage just as something warm and wet started soaking his pants and sliding down his legs.

Later, after the birth of his child, Kellin would totally blame labor for his complete and utter lack of common sense leading up to the delivery. Jesse would roll his eyes, and say, “What’s your excuse for the rest of your life?”

*

Vic watched worriedly as his fiancé stumbled out on stage. Kellin looked much paler than usual, and grimaced as he waved to the crowd, a hand pressing into his swollen belly.

Vic hadn’t wanted Kellin to join Warped Tour – he knew how physically demanding it could be and he worried about Kellin and the baby’s health – but he also knew how big of an opportunity this was for Kellin and his band. They had talked at length about whether or not Kellin should go, then argued about it quite heatedly, and then talked about it at length even more. Really, it was mostly just Vic talking, because as soon as Kellin got the okay from the doctor to tour, his fiancé had already decided he was going. Kellin was a stubborn son of a bitch sometimes, but Vic loved him for it.  

If Vic had said no, though, he knew Kellin would have cancelled the tour. He just could not do that to Kellin. In the end, he made Jesse, Justin, Jack, and Gabe promise him they would take care of his fiancé when he couldn’t. Vic had to admit they had done a very good job of looking after Kellin, but he still worried about him.

His worry for Kellin only increased during the performance. Usually, Kellin at least went from one side of the stage to another a time or two. But this time, he did not even move once after walking out to the stage. His voice was a little hoarse, tone a little flat, the microphone held unsteadily in his hands, and cheeks much redder than usual.  Vic reminded himself, though, that if something were seriously wrong, Kellin would never try to hide it from him. His fiancé may be an idiot to try touring while pregnant, but he knew Kellin would never put their baby at risk. Despite the fact that Kellin worried about the future after the baby was born far too much to the point where it was becoming detrimental to his health, Vic knew how much Kellin really wanted this baby.

So he focused on the music, made their last song great for the crowd, and waved at the fans, until a hand snatched his ear and dragged him off stage.

As soon as Kellin let go of his ear, he turned and got a good look at his fiancé. Kellin was hunched over, one hand on his stomach, the other holding his back, breathing heavily. “What’s wrong?” Vic asked, taking Kellin’s hand from his belly, and wrapping an arm around his waist as he led his fiancé over to the chair Alex had waiting for him. From the corner of his eye, he saw paramedics approaching side stage and noticed every single member of Kellin’s band was there for some reason, but it didn’t quite register in his brain. “You don’t look so good.”

“I’m in labor, you fucking idiot,” Kellin yelled, wrapping his free arm under his belly as his knees buckled. Vic tightened his grip to keep them both from falling, and gently eased Kellin into the seat.

“No sw—”

“Shut up, Justin!” Kellin said through gritted teeth. “Why are you even here?”

“We came for moral support,” Justin said with a shrug, appearing much calmer than Vic felt at the moment. “Jesse texted us that you’d gone into labor.”

The word finally registered in his brain – labor – and it sent a thrill of panic and anticipation shooting up his spine.

“Labor? You can’t be in labor,” Vic said. “There’s still a few weeks until your due date.”

“Well too fucking bad. This baby wants out now,” Kellin said, clamping down hard on Vic’s hand and gritting his teeth at what Vic assumed was another contraction.

“But we don’t have a hospital bag for you, we don’t have all the supplies yet, we don’t even have the nursery setup yet,” Vic pointlessly pointed out.

Kellin glared at him, his nostrils flaring and fingernails digging into Vic’s skin where he was holding on tightly, trying to ease the pain.

“Right, right, that’s not important right now,” Vic said, clearing his head. Kellin was about to give birth to their child, and he needed Vic now more than ever to be a calming presence and a coach to help him through this, not a pessimist who pointed out everything that could go wrong. “Let’s get you on the stretcher and to the hospital. Have you called your doctor yet?”

The relief on Kellin’s face as Vic calmly took over was palpable.

“I called her,” Jesse said. “She will meet you at the hospital.”

“Then let’s go have a baby,” Vic said, pressing a kiss to Kellin’s sweaty forehead as the paramedics helped him settle onto the stretcher.

Kellin abruptly let go of his hand, and Vic shot him a confused look. “Vic, guitar.”

“Oh, oh right,” Vic said. In all the excitement, he’d forgotten his guitar was still hanging from his shoulder. He handed off the instrument to his brother, and turned to follow Kellin to the ambulance when he felt his brother wrap his arms around him tightly from.

“Mike, I gotta –”

“I know, I know. I’m just so excited! I’ll call Mom and Dad. We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Mike said, giving him one more big squeeze before letting him go.

“We’ll be there, too,” Jesse said.

Vic thanked them all quickly before rushing after his fiancé and hopping into the ambulance.

Despite all the bickering the baby had caused, and the stress, and the worry, and the late sleepless nights, Vic could not wait to meet his child.

*

“I know I’ve been a bit of a bitch these last few months,” Kellin rambled on for maybe the tenth time since they arrived at the hospital. The doctor had wanted to get Kellin into surgery as soon as possible, so Vic had been shoved into a room to put on scrubs while Kellin was prepped for his C-section. By the time Vic returned to Kellin’s side, his fiancé was already in a gown, anesthetized, and a curtain placed between him and his stomach.   “I’m sorry.”

“Kellin, honey, it’s okay. You don’t have to apologize. You weren’t being bitchy at all,” Vic assured. Kellin was one of the sweetest people in the world, which is one of the reasons Vic fell so hard so quickly for him. In the last few months of his pregnancy, though, Kellin had been a sassy, assertive diva that Vic found quite thoroughly amusing to watch, even when that attitude was being thrown in his direction. He went from the person capable of putting up with even the most trying person’s crap, to calling out everyone on their bullshit, and Vic loved every second of it.

“And I’m sorry if it seemed like I didn’t want our son,” Kellin said, his eyes a little misty as he clutched tightly to Vic’s hand. “I do, I really do.”

From the moment Kellin saw the little positive strip on the pregnancy test to their first ultrasound until he went into labor, Kellin had seemed, on the surface, not all that excited about their unborn child. Vic knew it was all a farce, though. Kellin’s reactions to the baby were muted because he was scared and nervous and stressed about how everything was going to work out. Vic was, too.

Their first child was an accident, sure, but he knew, he had always known, just how much Kellin really wanted this baby. From the way Kellin would absentmindedly rub his stomach and look down at this flat belly before they even got confirmation from their doctor to the way he couldn’t stop staring at the picture of his first ultrasound and carried it around with him until the next one, told Vic everything about how Kellin really felt. Or the way Kellin would talk and sing to their child or tell their baby about how Vic was going to be an awesome daddy when he thought no one was listening. The way his eyes lit up when they talked about names, or when they picked a color for the room and Kellin insisted it had to be gender neutral, or when he insisted their son would call him, Dad and Vic, Papa. Or when he dragged Vic to their local fire station when they were having a safety event to get their car seat put in right because ‘the internet doesn’t know everything, Vic.’

Kellin loved their baby just as much as Vic did. Even if Kellin had trouble expressing that, Vic never once doubted it. His fiancé was allowed to be nervous, he was allowed to be stressed, he was allowed to be testy and sassy and scared, because a baby was a very big deal, a life changing event, and though Vic told Kellin everything would work out fine, he couldn’t know that for sure.

He just … believed it would be.

“I just …”

“I know, sweetheart,” Vic said, bringing Kellin’s hand to lips and pressing a kiss to the soft skin. Kellin’s doctor had begun to make an incision, and though part of him wanted to watch the birth of his child, the other part did not deal with blood and guts very well. “We’ll do whatever we have to, okay? If we need to schedule our tours opposite of each other so that one person is always home, we’ll do it. If I have to take time off for a bit, or take our son with me on tour, or hire a nanny, or leave him with Mama and Papa for a bit, we’ll do it. We’ll make it happen. It’ll be okay.”

For the first time since Kellin found out he was pregnant, he said, “I believe you,” and put his entire trust and faith in Vic, and Vic would do _anything_ to make sure that trust was not misplaced. “You’re going to be an amazing Dad.”

“You’re going to make an even better one,” Vic assured, knowing one of the reasons Kellin had been so worried about this baby was because a small part of him worried he’d end up just like his biological father. Kellin did not remember much of him, but what he did remember had left scars and demons he was still fighting to this day.

“Mr. Fuentes,” one of the nurses said, directing his attention to the other side of the curtain. He looked over just in time to see the doctor pull their son free. The doctor handed their son to a nurse, who immediately took him over to a neonatologist waiting in the corner of the room. The neonatologist had been called in to assess the condition of their son because of the fact that Kellin had gone into labor early. They would decide if their baby needed to go to the NICU, or was healthy enough to go home with them.

He felt Kellin squeeze his hand tighter as they both stared at their child and the neonatologist, his thumb absentmindedly stroking Kellin’s knuckles as he held his breath and hoped for the best.

A moment later, they heard the piercing cry of their son.

“He’s a perfectly healthy baby boy,” the neonatologist assured.

Vic felt tears of relief prick the corners of his eyes. With a sigh, he turned back to his fiancé. Kellin had a small smile on his face, but his eyes had slipped shut, and his grip on Vic’s hand had loosened. “Kellin?” he asked worriedly.

“Doctor,” one of the nurses said, “his blood pressure is still climbing.”

The doctor’s response was inaudible to his ears. The next thing Vic knew, he was being escorted out of the room without so much as another word.

*

Vic entered the waiting room to the happy, expectant faces of his family and friends, and was forced to deliver the news that while his baby was healthy there were complications and he did not know if Kellin was okay. Watching their faces fall had broken his heart all over again.

He fell into an awaiting chair, and buried his face in his hands, trying to hold back his tears. His mother wrapped an arm around his shoulders and his brother rubbed a hand across his lower back in a comforting gesture. Jesse paced the small waiting room, Justin chewed his fingernails down to stubs, Gabe shifted restlessly from one uncomfortable position to the next, and Jack stared at the floor, his foot tapping incessantly on the floor, his gaze jerking towards the OR doors with ever slight sound.

Two hours, of guilt, worry, and a whole lot of tears, later, Kellin’s OBGYN finally appeared in the waiting room.

“Kellin’s going to be just fine,” the doctor assured. Vic suppressed a sob of relief.

“Oh, thank God,” Jesse said, finally ending his relentless pacing and falling into a chair.

“His blood pressure was quite high when he came in today, and it continued to climb during the C-section. His blood pressure was a little high at his last appointment, as well, so I believe it is possible that he may have developed preeclampsia in the last few weeks. That would also explain why he went into labor so early. Kellin will need to be on bed rest for a week or so, but both baby and Dad are doing great,” she said with a tired smile. “Would you like to see them now?”

Unable to trust his voice, Vic nodded, feeling the tears well up in his eyes again.

A few minutes later, a nurse led him to Kellin’s room. As he stood at the threshold of his fiancé’s room, he saw Kellin holding their baby in his arms, a look of pure love and awe on his face as he looked down at their son and whispered softly to him.

“Hey,” Vic said quietly and approached Kellin’s bed.

Kellin turned his bright blue eyes towards him and smiled softly. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” Vic said, wiping at his eyes, before embracing both his fiancé and child.

“We’re okay,” Kellin assured, pressing a chaste kiss to Vic’s cheek. “Do you want to hold him, Papa?”

Papa? Vic could certainly get used to the sound of that. Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Vic nodded and gently took the baby, his son, from Kellin’s arms. He had Kellin’s eyes, and adorable button nose, but Vic’s skin tone. He was the most perfect thing Vic had ever seen.

Vic didn’t know what the future held. He didn’t know how they were going to make this work yet. But as he held his baby in his arms, and clasped Kellin’s hand with own, Vic knew he would not trade all the platinum albums, all the tours, or all the Grammys and the APMA awards in the world for his son.

His family was perfect, and he would do everything within his power to keep it that way.


End file.
